


Quiet

by diamond9697



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 05:18:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7561927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diamond9697/pseuds/diamond9697
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The loft is too quiet, and Emma finds herself unable to sleep.  After leaving to try and settle her mind, she finds herself in an unexpected place.</p><p>Takes place after the season four mid-season finale, 'Heroes and Villains'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Quiet

Emma couldn’t sleep.

She was utterly exhausted after everything that had happened with Elsa and her family, Ingrid, the curse, Gold, and everything in between. Yet despite feeling completely drained, she simply could not fall asleep when she closed her eyes. After about an hour of staring up at the ceiling and wondering if the guy who came up with the idea of counting sheep was laughing his ass off in Hell; Emma realized just how quiet it really was in the house.

Too quiet.

She snorted to herself even as the phrase drifted through her mind. It was a cliché heard in old westerns and corny cartoons; however, tonight it was exactly right. It really was too quiet.

Henry was staying with Regina. Her parents had gone to bed hours ago. Even her little brother seemed to be sleeping more than usual between his late night feedings.

The silence might very well drive her insane.

Sighing, Emma finally gave up the idea of sleep for the moment, and slipped out of bed. Perhaps if she took a walk, and came back to a nice cup of hot chocolate, it would help with her insomnia. With that thought in mind, she put on some comfortable clothes, slipped on her shoes and coat, and quietly left the house.

***

About twenty minutes later, Emma was mentally kicking herself in the ass.

This was not a good idea. In fact, it was a really, really bad idea. Yet somehow, she thought as she found herself in front of Killian’s door, it made perfect sense.

The quiet. The quiet it took her so long to notice, and even longer to do anything about, despite knowing that there was something off. Just like what had happened with Killian.

Emma had known something was wrong with him, but there was so much going on, and she had just kept shoving it to the side to deal with later. So much so that she was almost too late. In fact, she would have been too late if not for Belle.

She knew Killian was okay now, of course. Hell, she’d shoved his heart back into his chest herself, so she knew it was there. She knew it was steadily beating just like it had for, well, centuries. She knew it, but that wasn’t enough. Not tonight.

She needed to break the silence. She needed to hear it for herself.

Finally, taking a deep breath, Emma raised her hand and knocked on the door. It didn’t take long for her to hear a shuffling sound from inside, and a few moments later she was looking into the too blue eyes of a rather exhausted looking pirate. Judging by the dark smudges under his eyes and the fact he was still dressed, he didn’t appear to have been doing much sleeping either.

“Swan?” His brows furrowed a bit as he looked at her. “What’s wrong? Is everyone all right? Who do we bloody well have to stop now?”

Of course he would think it was because of some emergency. Why else would she be there?

“I need you to do something for me, and for once, I need you to keep your mouth shut. Think you can manage that for a few minutes?”

Killian started to open his mouth, then quickly closed it again, probably because of the look she was giving him. Despite his obvious confusion, he finally nodded in response to the question.

“Good.” Emma pushed past him and into his room, quickly slipping her shoes and coat off, and then setting them out of the way before she turned to look at him.

Killian’s face was priceless.

“You can close the door now,” she said, just a hint of amusement in her voice.

He cleared his throat slightly, but to his credit he didn’t say a word as he closed the door. Killian then turned and looked at her, raising one eyebrow in a silent question.

Emma didn’t say anything. Hell, she didn’t think she could get any words out at the moment if she tried. Instead, she walked over to him and put one hand on his chest, just over where she had put his heart back just hours ago.

His eyes softened slightly as he looked at her, and he put his own hand over hers.

“I just need to hear it,” she says softly, more to herself than to him. “If I can hear it, then I’ll know for sure that you’re okay. That I wasn’t too late.”

“Love…”

“Shh.”

He didn’t say anything else, though she knew she’d pay for that the next time she saw him. Still, at the moment it was a price she was more than willing to pay.

Shifting their hands slightly, she stepped a bit closer to him. Then, after taking a deep breath, she slowly pressed her head against his chest where their hands had been just a moment ago. The soft sound of his heartbeat echoed in her ear, and she could feel herself finally start to relax.

“Stay with me,” he said softly, and this time she didn’t say anything to rebuke him. “Just to sleep, on my honor.”

She raised her head to look at him, then slowly nodded. “Okay, but just for tonight,” she said after a moment.

Killian smiled to himself. After all, he remembered quite well the last time it had been just a ‘one time thing’.

Then again, so did she.


End file.
